On the technology adoption curve, educational institutions mostly fall in the late adopter category. Budget cycles are multi-year. The weak point of this Facebook app is not the concept (bringing students data from their campus' student information system and presenting it in familiar Facebook territory is a great idea). The weak point is that it has to deal with the college/university (deans, IT dept.) to 1) get the app working at all and 2) get paid. I could see both 1 and 2 being somewhat allayed with a semester-long free trial but the hidden kicker is always integration. This is an app that requires giving the FB app developers controlled access to the university's information system. One of the schools I attended didn't even have it's college administration network physically connected to the rest of the campus, it was separate and isolated from the Internet. Imagine the inertia an app company might have to overcome to have access to a school's info system..
Great FB app idea, very difficult environment culture to execute. Abilene Christian is pretty progressive and not the norm, judging from their campus + iPhone vision.
Providing historical context in an environment where people otherwise assume novelty (and nominally appreciate differing viewpoints so long as they're relevant) should not necessarily imply a lack of constructive work. I just keep quiet about what I'm working on now. If you were in my position, you would too.
But your point is duly noted. I think this will be my last post here, at least for a long while.
Great FB app idea, very difficult environment culture to execute. Abilene Christian is pretty progressive and not the norm, judging from their campus + iPhone vision.